Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural
https://app.periodikos.com.br/journal/resr/article/doi/10.1590/1806-9479.2023.282038
Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Grassroots initiatives of digital food markets in southern Brazil: the barred window of opportunity for institutional changes opened by the pandemic

Iniciativas populares de mercados alimentares digitais no sul do Brasil: a bloqueada janela de oportunidade para mudanças institucionais aberta pela pandemia

Paulo Niederle; Jeferson Tonin; Evandro Pedro Schneider; Sergio Schneider; Eric Sabourin

Downloads: 1
Views: 365

Abstract

Debates about the effects of covid-19 on the dynamics of food systems abounded in the last years. Initial analyses projected major changes in these dynamics due to, among other things, the digitisation of markets. Based on data collected between 2020 e 2023 by means of direct observations and 64 semi-structured interviews with farmers, rural extensionists, public officials, and community leaders in the scope of a multi-case study, and in dialogue with the sociological literature on institutional change and social construction of markets, this article analyses grassroots initiatives of market digitisation in two regions (Litoral Norte and Médio-Alto Uruguai) of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Findings suggest that the pandemic promoted a barred window of opportunity for social movements’ initiatives of alternative food markets. By the end of 2023, half a year after the World Health Organization declared “with great hope” an end to covid-19, it did not seem to be much hope for these initiatives. This is because neither the pandemic proved to be a “critical juncture” that opened the space for significant institutional changes, nor the challenging actors in the field were able to become “institutional entrepreneurs” of these changes.

Keywords

institutional change, food markets, pandemic, social movements, digitisation

Resumo

Resumo: Os debates sobre os efeitos da covid-19 na dinâmica dos sistemas alimentares abundaram nos últimos anos. Análises preliminares projetaram mudanças expressivas nesta dinâmica devido, entre outras coisas, à digitalização dos mercados. Com base em dados coletados entre 2020 e 2023 por meio de observação direta e 64 entrevistas semiestruturadas com agricultores, extensionistas rurais, gestores públicos e lideranças sociais no âmbito de um estudo de múltiplos casos, e em diálogo com a literatura sociológica sobre mudança institucional e construção social de mercados, este artigo analisa iniciativas de digitalização de mercados da agricultura familiar em duas regiões (Litoral Norte e Médio-Alto Uruguai) do estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. As descobertas sugerem que a pandemia promoveu uma janela de oportunidade bloqueada para iniciativas de mercados alimentares alternativos. No final de 2023, meio ano depois a Organização Mundial de Saúde ter declarado “com grande esperança” o fim da covid-19, não parecia haver muita esperança para estas iniciativas. Isto porque nem a pandemia provou ser uma “conjuntura crítica” que abriu espaço para mudanças institucionais significativas nestas regiões, nem os atores desafiantes no campo foram capazes de se tornarem “empreendedores institucionais” destas mudanças.

Palavras-chave

mudança institucional, mercados alimentares, pandemias, movimentos sociais, digitalização

References

Abbott, A. (1997). On the concept of turning point. Comparative Social Research, 16, 85-105.

Ajayi, R. A., Aliyev, F., & Sarkhanov, T. (2020). The impact of covid-19 pandemic on global financial markets: a qualitative analysis. Brazilian Journal of Business, 2(3), 2994-3001. http://doi.org/10.34140/bjbv2n3-075

Alpino, T., Bocca Santos, C., de Barros, D., & Freitas, C. M. (2020). Covid-19 and food and nutritional (in) security: action by the Brazilian Federal Government during the pandemic, with budget cuts and institutional dismantlement. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 36(8), e00161320.

Altieri, M. A., & Nicholls, C. I. (2020). Agroecology and the reconstruction of a post-COVID-19 agriculture. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 47(5), 881-898. http://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2020.1782891

Amri, M. M., & Drummond, D. (2020). Punctuating the equilibrium: an application of policy theory to COVID-19. Policy Design and Practice, 4(1), 33-43. http://doi.org/10.1080/25741292.2020.1841397

Armingeon, K. (2012). The politics of fiscal responses to the crisis of 2008-2009. Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration and Institutions, 25(4), 543-565. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0491.2012.01594.x

Baumgartner, F. R. (2014). Ideas, paradigms, and confusions. Journal of European Public Policy, 21(3), 475-480. http://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2013.876180

Baumgartner, F., & Jones, B. (1993). Agendas and instability in American politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Beckert, J. (2013). Capitalism as a system of expectations: toward a sociological microfoundation of political economy. Politics & Society, 41(3), 323-341. http://doi.org/10.1177/0032329213493750

Beland, D., & Powell, M. (2016). Continuity and change in social policy. Social Policy and Administration, 50(2), 129-147. http://doi.org/10.1111/spol.12207

Béné, B. (2020). Resilience of local food systems and links to food security – A review of some important concepts in the context of COVID-19 and other shocks. Food Security, 12(4), 805-822. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-020-01076-1

Béné, C., Bakker, D., Chavarro, M. J., Even, B., Melo, J., & Sonneveld, A. (2021). Global assessment of the impacts of COVID-19 on food security. Global Food Security, 31, 100575. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2021.100575

Bentkowska, K. (2021). Response to governmental COVID-19 restrictions: the role of informal institutions. Journal of Institutional Economics, 17(5), 729-745. http://doi.org/10.1017/S174413742100028X

Bentsen, K., & Pedersen, P. (2021). Consumers in local food markets: from adoption to market co-creation? British Food Journal, 123(3), 1083-1102. http://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-03-2020-0173

Borghesi, G., & Morone, P. (2023). A review of the effects of COVID-19 on food waste. Food Security, 15(1), 261-280. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-022-01311-x

Burnquist, H. L., Martins, M. M. V., Campoli, J. S., & da Costa, C. C. (2020). Covid-19 and agri foods: recalibrating expectations. Revista de Política Agrícola, 29(2), 88-101.

Capoccia, G. (2015). Critical junctures and institutional change. In J. Mahoney & K. Thelen (Eds.), Advances in comparative historical analysis (pp. 147-179). Cambridge University Press.

Capoccia, G. (2016). Critical junctures. In O. Fioretos, T. Falleti & A. Sheingate (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of historical institutionalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Carducci, B., Keats, E. C., Ruel, M., Haddad, L., Osendarp, S. J. M., & Bhutta, Z. A. (2021). Food systems, diets and nutrition in the wake of COVID-19. Nature Food, 2(2), 68-70. http://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00233-9

Caron, P., Daguet, E., & Dury, S. (2023). The global food system is not broken but its resilience is threatened. In C. Béné & S. Devereux (Eds.), Resilience and food security in a food systems context. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Carvalho, P., Teixeira, M. A., Motta, R., & Penna, C. (2022). Sistemas Alimentares em Disputa: respostas dos movimentos sociais à pandemia Covid-19. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais, 37(108), e3710808. http://doi.org/10.1590/3710808/2022

Chiffoleau, Y., Alonso Ugaglia, A., Brit, A. C., Demonceaux, A., Dehaudt, L., Ranoux, M., Akermann, G., & Deroche-Leydier, Y. (2021). Impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on short animal product chains: results of surveys at the beginning of the pandemic. Productions Animales, 34(4), 261-272. http://doi.org/10.20870/productions-animales.2021.34.4.5390

Clapp, J., & Moseley, W. G. (2020). This food crisis is different: COVID-19 and the fragility of the neoliberal food security order. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 47(7), 1393-1417. http://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2020.1823838

Del Grossi, M. (2020). Agricultura familiar ampliada. Boletim do Cegafi. Brasília: Unb.

Dupont, C., Oberthur, S., & Von Homeyer, I. (2020). The Covid-19 crisis: a critical juncture for EU climate policy development?? journal of European Integration, 42(8), 1095-1110. http://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2020.1853117

Fligstein, N., & McAdam, D. (2011). Toward a general theory of strategic action fields. Sociological Theory, 29(1), 1-26. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9558.2010.01385.x

Food and Agriculture Organization – FAO. International Fund for Agricultural Development – IFAD. United Nations Children’s Fund – UNICEF. World Food Programme – WFP. World Health Organization – WHO. (2021). The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021. Transforming food systems for food security, improved nutrition and affordable healthy diets for all. Rome: FAO. http://doi.org/10.4060/cb4474en

Friedmann, H. (2016). Commentary: Food regime analysis and agrarian questions: Widening the conversation. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 43(3), 671-692. http://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2016.1146254

Frizo, P. G. A., & Niederle, P. A. (2019). Por que deixamos de fazer o que sempre fizemos? Instituições, existencialismo e ação coletiva transformadora na teoria dos Campos de Ação Estratégica. Revista Brasileira de Sociologia, 7(16), 29-49.

Gazolla, M., & Aquino, J. R. (2021). Reinvenção dos mercados da agricultura familiar no Brasil: a novidade dos sites e plataformas digitais de comercialização em tempos de Covid-19. Estudos Sociedade e Agricultura, 29(2), 427-460. http://doi.org/10.36920/esa-v29n2-8

Gazolla, M., & Aquino, J. R. (2022). Reinvention of family farming markets in Brazil: the novelty of digital marketing sites and platforms in times of COVID-19. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 46(6), 902-927. http://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2022.2072997

Gazolla, M., & Schneider, S. (2017). Cadeias curtas e redes agroalimentares alternativas: negócios e mercados da agricultura familiar. Porto Alegre: UFRGS.

Geels, F. (2018). Low-carbon transition via system reconfguration? A socio-technical whole system analysis of passenger mobility in Great Britain (1990-2016). Energy Research & Social Science, 46, 86-102. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2018.07.008

Gliessman, S., & Ferguson, B. (2021). An urgent call for deep food system change. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 45(1), 1-2. http://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2020.1831731

Hirschman, A. (1972). Exit, voice, and loyalty: responses to decline in firms, organizations, and states. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Hobbs, J. E. (2020). Food supply chains during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 68(2), 171-176. http://doi.org/10.1111/cjag.12237

Hogan, J. (2006). Remoulding the critical junctures approach. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 39(3), 657-679. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423906060203

Hogan, J. (2019). The critical juncture concept’s evolving capacity to explain policy change. European Policy Analysis, 5(2), 170-189. http://doi.org/10.1002/epa2.1057

Hogan, J., & Doyle, D. (2007). The importance of ideas: an a priori critical juncture framework. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 40(4), 883-910. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0008423907071144

Hogan, J., Howlett, M., & Murphy, M. (2022). Re-thinking the coronavirus pandemic as a policy punctuation: COVID-19 as a path-clearing policy accelerator. Policy and Society, 41(1), 40-52. http://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puab009

Hwang, H., & Höllerer, M. (2020). The COVID-19 crisis and its consequences: ruptures and transformations in the global institutional fabric. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 56(3), 294-300. http://doi.org/10.1177/0021886320936841

Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística – IBGE (2019). Censo Agropecuário: resultados definitivos. Rio de Janeiro: IBGE.

Jahel, C., Bourgeois, R., Pesche, D., de Lattre‐Gasquet, M., & Delay, E. (2021). Has the COVID‐19 crisis changed our relationship to the future? Futures & Foresight Science, 3(2), e75. http://doi.org/10.1002/ffo2.75

John Hopkins University. (2023). Coronavirus Resource Center. Retrieved in 2023, March 31, from https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/brazil

Knill, C., & Steinebach, Y. (2022). What has happened and what has not happened due to the coronavirus disease pandemic: a systemic perspective on policy change. Policy and Society, 41(1), 25-39. http://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puab008

Leach, M., MacGregor, H., Scoones, I., & Wilkinson, A. (2021). Post-pandemic transformations: How and why COVID-19 requires us to rethink development. World Development, 138, e105233. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105233

Mahoney, J. (2001). Path-dependent explanations of regime change: Central America in comparative perspective. Studies in Comparative International Development, 36(1), 111-141. http://doi.org/10.1007/BF02687587

Mahoney, J., & Thelen, K. (2009). A theory of gradual institutional change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Malta, D. C., Szwarcwald, C. L., Barros, M. B. D. A., Gomes, C. S., Machado, Í. E., Souza Júnior, P. R. B. D., Romero, D. E., Lima, M. G., Damacena, G. N., Pina, M. D. F., & Freitas, M. I. D. F. (2020). A pandemia da COVID-19 e as mudanças no estilo de vida dos brasileiros adultos: um estudo transversal. Epidemiologia e Serviços de Saúde: Revista do Sistema Único de Saúde do Brasil, 29(4), e2020407. http://doi.org/10.1590/s1679-49742020000400026

Maluf, S. (2020). Tempos sombrios de pandemia e fome: responsabilidades da pesquisa em soberania e segurança alimentar e nutricional. Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional, 27, e020020. http://doi.org/10.20396/san.v27i0.8659993

Marsden, G., & Docherty, I. (2021). Mega-disruptions and policy change: Lessons from the mobility sector in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK. Transport Policy, 110, 86-97. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.05.015

McAdam, D. (1982). Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

McMichael, P. (2013). Food regimes and agrarian questions. Nova Scotia: Fernwood.

Montenegro de Wit, M. (2021). What grows from a pandemic? Toward an abolitionist agroecology. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 48(1), 99-136. http://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2020.1854741

Niederle, P. A., & Wesz Junior, V. J. (2020). Agrifood system transitions in Brazil: new food orders. London: Routledge.

Niederle, P. A., Schneider, S., & Cassol, A. P. (2021). Mercados alimentares digitais: inclusão produtiva, cooperativismo e políticas públicas. Porto Alegre: UFRGS.

Niederle, P., Grisa, C., Picolotto, E. L., & Soldera, D. (2019). Narrative disputes over family-farming public policies in Brazil: conservative attacks and restricted countermovements. Latin American Research Review, 54(3), 707-720. http://doi.org/10.25222/larr.366

Niederle, P., Petersen, P., Coudel, E., Grisa, C., Schmitt, C., Sabourin, E., Schneider, E., Brandenburg, A., & Lamine, C. (2022). Ruptures in the agroecological transitions: institutional change and policy dismantling in Brazil. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 50(3), 931-953. http://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2022.2055468

Power, M., Doherty, B., Pybus, K., & Pickett, K. (2020). How COVID-19 has exposed inequalities in the UK food system: The case of UK food and poverty. Emerald Open Research, 2(10), e11. http://doi.org/10.1108/EOR-10-2023-0003

Preiss, P. (2020). Challenges facing the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: lessons from short food supply systems. Agriculture and Human Values, 23(3), 571-572. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-020-10062-4

Preiss, P. V., Silva, G. P., Deponti, C. M., & Deggerone, Z. (2022). Impacto da Covid-19 na comercialização de alimentos da agricultura familiar no Rio Grande do Sul. Eutopía Revista de Desarrollo Económico Territorial, 21, 9-29.

Ratten, V. (2023). The post COVID-19 pandemic era: changes in teaching and learning methods for management educators. International Journal of Management Education, 21(2), e100777. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2023.100777

Sabourin, E., Grisa, C., Niederle, P., Pereira Leite, S., Milhorance, C., Damasceno Ferreira, A., & Andriguetto-Filho, J. M. (2020). Le démantèlement des politiques publiques rurales et environnementales au Brésil. Agricultures, 29, e31. http://doi.org/10.1051/cagri/2020029

Schneider, S., Cassol, A., Leonardi, A., & Marinho, M. D. M. (2020). Os efeitos da pandemia da Covid-19 sobre o agronegócio e a alimentação. Estudos Avançados, 34(100), 167-188. http://doi.org/10.1590/s0103-4014.2020.34100.011

Singulano, M. A., Viana, F. D. F., & Inácio, I. L. E. (2023). Efeitos da pandemia de Covid-19 sobre o acesso aos canais de comercialização dos agricultores familiares: estudo qualitativo no município de Mariana - MG. Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural, 61(4), e263633. http://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9479.2022.263633

Soendergaard, N., Gilio, L., Sá, C. D., & Jank, M. S. (2020). Impactos da Covid-19 no agronegócio e o papel do Brasil (Texto para Discussão, No. 2). Insper-Centro do Agronegócio Global.

Stolle, D., & Micheletti, M. (2013). Political consumerism: global responsibility in action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tarrow, S. (1994). El poder en movimiento: movimientos sociales, acción colectiva y política. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.

Tittonell, P., Fernandez, M., El Mujtar, V. E., Preiss, P. V., Sarapura, S., Laborda, L., Mendonça, M. A., Alvarez, V. E., Fernandes, G. B., Petersen, P., & Cardoso, I. M. (2021). Emerging responses to the COVID-19 crisis from family farming and the agroecology movement in Latin America: a rediscovery of food, farmers and collective action. Agricultural Systems, 190, e103098. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103098

Tonin, J. (2022). Habilidades sociais no enfrentamento à pandemia e reconfigurações nos mercados alimentares territoriais no Médio Alto Uruguai e no Litoral Norte do Rio Grande do Sul (Tese de doutorado). Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre.

Tonin, J., Niederle, P., & Schneider, E. (2024). Habilidades sociais no enfrentamento à pandemia nos mercados alimentares territoriais: uma análise a partir do Médio Alto Uruguai e do Litoral Norte do Rio Grande do Sul. Redes, 29(1), 1-27.

van der Ploeg, J. D., Ye, J., & Schneider, S. (2022). Reading markets politically: on the transformativity and relevance of peasant markets. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 50(5), 1852-1877. http://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2021.2020258

Vattathara, S., Deggerone, Z. A., Tonin, J., Liberalesso, E., & Silva, J. (2021). Agricultura familiar e plataformas digitais de comercialização: a experiência da Alimento de Origem. In P. Niederle, S. Schneider & A. Cassol (Eds.), Mercados alimentares digitais: inclusão produtiva, cooperativismo e políticas públicas (pp. 95-120). Porto Alegre: UFRGS.

Wang, H., Ma, B., Cudjoe, D., Bai, R., & Farrukh, M. (2022). How does perceived severity of COVID-19 influence purchase intention of organic food? British Food Journal, 124(11), 3353-3367. http://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-06-2021-0701

Wilkinson, J. (2008). Mercados, redes e valores: o novo mundo da agricultura familiar. Porto Alegre: UFRGS.

Wiskerke, J. S., & van der Ploeg, J. V. (2004). Seeds of transition: essays on novelty production, niches and regimes in agriculture. The Netherlands: Uitgeverij Van Gorcum.
 


Submitted date:
01/06/2024

Accepted date:
07/15/2024

67055d39a953957dc23f18a2 resr Articles
Links & Downloads

resr

Share this page
Page Sections